Couple jailed over toddler's pond death

A couple whose daughter drowned in a pond as they watched TV after a trip to the pub were today each jailed for 30 months after being found guilty of manslaughter.

Emily Wilkinson was 22 months old when she died after wandering into the garden of her maternal grandmother, Bridget Willis, in Great Bradley, Suffolk.

Her parents, Richard Wilkinson, 41, and Karen Wilkinson, 27, of Brandon, Suffolk, had been living at a nearby house at the time of the tragedy.

A jury at Ipswich Crown Court took six hours to convict the pair, who had both denied manslaughter.

Mr Wilkinson was also found guilty of four charges of child cruelty through neglect between November 2000 and March 2003 - charges which his wife had admitted.

During the six-week trial, the court heard that on the afternoon of February 15, 2003 Emily wandered off from her home and got into her grandmother's garden through an open gate.

She was in the pond for around 15 minutes before the alarm was raised and her father dragged her out by her ankles.

He revived her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but she died later at the West Suffolk Hospital from lung damage.

The court heard that social services had observed a pattern of neglect and that Emily had grown up in squalid conditions.

The landlord of the couple's former home in Bartlow, Cambridgeshire, described the house as filthy.

Rowley Fenwick told the court that the kitchen floor was grimy and that there were bags of rubbish lying around that had not been cleared out of the house.

The jury was told that much of the neglect had been caused by Mrs Wilkinson's habitual cocaine use - a habit which at its height cost her £1,000 a week.

However, she denied using the drug on the day of her daughter's death.

On that afternoon Emily had been helping to bring wood into the house from outside. She had also helped her father get vegetables for a stew.

Mr Wilkinson told the court that there was a point where he thought Emily had gone to another part of the house with her mother.

Around 15 minutes after he last saw his daughter, a boy who had been playing outside raised the alarm.

Mr Wilkinson said he found her face down in the pond.

Sentencing Mrs Wilkinson to an additional 12 months in jail and Mr Wilkinson to a further 15 months in jail for neglect, to run concurrently with the 30 months for manslaughter, Judge John Deveux told the couple they had failed in their duty of care to Emily and were guilty of gross neglect.

"The danger represented by the pond was known to both of you. You both failed to ensure she was protected from that danger on the day in question," he said.

"This is not a case of manslaughter resulting from deliberate cruelty or beating or over-zealous chastisement. This is a case resulting from gross negligence."

The judge added that it was not the worst case of manslaughter of a child to come before the court and that is why a relatively short sentence was appropriate.

He described Mrs Wilkinson as a tragic character with a fragile personality made worse by her abuse of cocaine.